Are you thinking about how to use Tik Tok to market your local business, but you don’t know how?
Then this article shows you how you can market your local business on TikTok. Keep reading to discover the tips and strategies you can use.
At the surface, it might seem like TikTok is simply a platform for comedy sketches and dancing moms, but that’s not all there’s to TikTok.
The business opportunities on TikTok are juicy.
After all, the platform has 1 billion monthly active users. It’s the place to see and be seen, this means a great opportunity for brands to engage with audiences in a whole new way.
Follow the lead of the big brands who are already optimizing the potential of TikTok, tap into trending topics and hashtag challenges, experiment with TikTok live streams, or play around with editing tools and trending sounds to create high-energy short-form videos that represent your local business.
It can feel overwhelming, though, especially if you’re new to the TikTok.
If you are new to TikTok, consider this article your one-stop shop for all you need to know to get your marketing right on TikTok as a local business owner.
Read on to learn how to use TikTok to market your local business. Before we delve deep into how to use TikTok to market your local business, let’s answer some important questions that beg for answers.
Can You Market your Business on TikTok?
Like other social media platforms, businesses can now advertise their products or services on TikTok. That’s an excellent way to get your brand seen by new users and prospects
Is TikTok good for Small Businesses?
TikTok has over 500 million daily active users, with this number of daily active users the platform can be a goldmine of engagement for local business owners.
The platform mainly focuses on content creation rather than pushing on monetization making it a viable option for better reach.
Benefits of TikTok for Small Business
TikTok can be very beneficial to your business if you use it strategically. It gives you the opportunity to create diverse, engaging content that comes across as genuine to your consumers. Below are the benefits of using TikTok to market your local business.
1 Audience reach:
TikTok is one of the most used social media platforms, joining the ranks of heavy-hitters like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. It has 1 billion active monthly users in 141 countries. More eyes on the app mean more potential for those eyes to land on one of your branded ads. This makes it an attractive marketing platform for businesses that want to reach a large audience.
2 Consumer engagement:
Users aren’t just downloading the app; they are actively engaging with content on TikTok, resulting in a high engagement level.
The average user spends 858 minutes per month on the app, and this number has been increasing dramatically year over year. This, accompanied by TikTok’s unique delivery algorithms, gives you the ability to see high brand engagement.
3 Creative opportunities:
Brands on TikTok thrive with content that is whimsical and entertaining. This allows you to explore different aspects of your business, such as what makes you fun and interesting, and TikTok provides a platform where those fun aspects will be welcomed (and can even make you money).
Why you Should Join TikTok Now
TikTok is relatively new, especially to the business world, and, as such, is not quite as saturated as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
It’s also much cheaper to advertise on because there isn’t a strong influencer community yet; there are far fewer users competing for sponsorship and ad placements.
Furthermore, it helps you take the crucial first step into marketing to Gen Z, the notoriously difficult-to-market-to generational group, which is becoming more important as they gain a stronger foothold in the economy.
Marketing to younger generations doesn’t have to be impossible – just meet them where they are, play by their rules, and have a little fun doing it.
How to use Tik Tok to Market Your Local Business
TikTok is a valuable social media marketing tool and can be easily adopted by virtually any business.
When using TikTok for your business, follow these tips for higher engagement.
1. Examine prevalent trends amongst users in your target audience.
This strategy can be used on any social media platform, but it is especially useful for TikTok. The platform sees high volume around specific topics like entertainment, dance, pranks, DIY, travel and learning.
Research your target audience to see which type of content they are engaging with most, and use that knowledge to influence which type of TikToks you make.
For example, if you notice your target audience is highly engaged with prank videos, you can post videos of your employees playing good-hearted pranks around the office.
2. Use a laid-back, less commercial approach.
Unlike Instagram, TikTok largely rejects polished, high-quality content. As such, it has earned a reputation as a casual platform where users feel comfortable expressing themselves.
“The beauty of TikTok is that it’s an accessible creative space, That means it thrives on a touch of quirkiness and avoids heavily commercial-style productions.
Let engagement be your guide and delve into what is fun about your business.
Make sure you clearly understand your brand culture, values and identity so that what you create is genuine and true to your brand, and avoids typical corporate guidelines.
TikTok is a hub of creative, fun, and sometimes crazy ideas, so try to soften the brand tone and join the playful community, Avoid being overly formal and stiff.”
3. Participate in TikTok challenges.
An easy way to increase engagement and visibility is to participate in TikTok challenges.
Find out which songs or activities are trending, and create your own branded version of one to post on your TikTok. This can not only increase your visibility but also make you seem more relatable and down to earth.
Younger generations like supporting brands they connect to. Participating in challenges can help you connect to your audience on a real level, especially if your target demographic is teens or young adults.
Remember, when you post a challenge video, be sure to include the relevant hashtags to increase your likelihood of ending up on peoples’ ForYou pages.
4. Post about your location.
Location can be a key driver for brand awareness, especially for small local businesses. Talk about your location in your videos, and include the location in your caption and hashtag.
This will help people in your area find your business.
It can also be helpful to create videos that are unique to your local area. This will make your product or service appear more relatable to locals.
5. Use Songs
The San Diego Zoo knows how to combine cute animal videos and funky songs together into one effective video.
If your brand is fun and upbeat, you can incorporate music to add that ambience to your videos.
Let’s say you’re a pastry shop and you like to find more customers on TikTok. You can try to add lively music while recording a video of you creating a customised cupcake.
This is also good to help local bands find a wider audience. Cross-promoting over industries on TikTok helps brands gain more interest from other business accounts that they otherwise would not directly target.
6. Partner with TikTok
If your marketing budget allows, partnering with TikTok itself is a good way to get your brand the reach it needs. For instance, you’re an eco-friendly clothing brand whose main target market is young adults (17-25-year-olds) who are conscious of the environment and are looking for alternatives to their style.
Knowing that TikTok is the place to be to engage with your market, you can create a hashtag challenge campaign to promote your brand and advocacy.
7. Keep it Fun
TikTok is an app that brings together content creators who want to share funny and cute videos, and you can use this to your advantage.
Let’s say you’re a gym that wants to spread the word that working out isn’t always as serious as it looks.
Why not post (planned) bloopers, before-and-after videos, lighthearted gym humour, quick tutorials, or inspiring bench press videos to hype up how great working out it is, and how better it is to work out in your gym?
This can take away the hesitations about going to a gym and staying fit as well as showing a different side of your business.
Do you know what account keeps it fun? ESPN is dominating TikTok like the platform was meant for them.
They have 2.6 million followers and their posts are diverse, from recaps, and athletes’ training, to even some meme-worthy videos like the one below that their followers would just love to share.
TikTok is one of the newest platforms out there that won’t disappear into obscurity anytime soon. With a large user count and millions of content published every day, viewers will have so many videos to watch.
Make your videos one of their most-viewed and most-shared posts. Keep it creative and entertaining, embrace a more personal tone to approach your followers and always engage with them through challenges and cross-promotions.
Make the fun and entertaining world of TikTok work for you and your marketing plan.
If you have any questions on marketing you can drop them in the comment section below and we’ll be glad to help you out.